Quiz: What kind of Chinese are you?

When a close friend of mine, Paul Guo, blogged this quiz about what your political Chinese stances are at his website, it got me piqued with curious to see where I stand in Chinese politic. I took Contemporary Chinese Politics course at Rochester Institute of Technology with Mr. Guo and I learned a lot from this course. (Being a Korean-American myself and Mr. Guo, of course, knew plenty cuz he’s Chinese.. that’s why I said, “I” learned, not “we”) It has really opened my eyes to see Chinese politics in a new light. All of my preconceived notions about it was thrown out of the window. A lot of events in their long history could’ve been a turning point had it gone the other way. I could see a point where U.S. could’ve had a great chance to turn China into one of its greatest allies, but decided to focus elsewhere when Chinese government system was in the middle of its experimental stage. Ah well, that’s too bad.

Anyway, here goes my political Chinese stance. The result is I’m pretty moderate, so that means I’m a Middle General. According to Paul Guo’s blog: “Apparently, Old General equals Rightist, Middle General equals Moderate, Young General equals Leftists…”

MITBBS – Old, Middle, Young General Political Position Quiz

I – Political position quiz (total of 14 questions, and each answer has a point value. Add together the points for the answers that you’ve selected.)

1. How do you see the Communist Party?
C: Communist Party’s governance really does have numerous problems; some are being fixed, but for now at least others are not. (+0)

2. How do you see the Chinese government?
C: A government that’s in the process of adopting very slow changes, but no one is clear on where these changes will ultimately lead. (0)

3. How would you evaluate the government’s method of using force to repress the 6/4 incident?
C: The riots of course had to be stopped, but they could have used gentler methods. (+0)

4. How would you evaluate the government and students role in 6/4?
C: Very difficult to say. It’s a tragedy that we should try to put behind us. (+0

5. How would you evaluate Mao Zedong?
B: Like Deng Xiaoping said, he had accomplishments and mistakes, but the accomplishments out-weigh his mistakes. (+1)

6. How do you perceive the United States of America?
C: Discarding all ideologies, there are many things we can learn from the United States. At least China and the United States shouldn’t be directly opposed to each other. (+0)

7. What do you think US foreign policy is?
C: Although it’s partly motivated by its own interests (at times in a very ugly way), but it still plays a role in defending universal liberal values. (+0)

8. How do you see the Taiwan problem?
D: We should respect the choice of the Taiwanese; after all, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China have equivalent stature. (-1)

9. How do you see the democracy question, when it comes to China?
C: From a long term view, the Chinese people needs democracy to restrain the governments’ power. But this is an issue for the Chinese people, and has nothing to do with the West. (+0)

10. How do you perceive the speech and reporting done by the Southern Metropolis media group?(editor’s note: Crusading newspaper + magazine in Guangzhou that both critics and supporters are willing to call China’s CNN, but for very different reasons. Accused of being overly critical in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake)
C: Nothing wrong with what they’re saying, but the timing isn’t appropriate. (+0)

11. How do you see the Carrefour boycott?
C: Hard to say; a boycott itself isn’t very rationally, but it really has let the world hear the voice of the Chinese people. (+0)

12: How do you see the role of international rescue squads in the Sichuan earthquake?
C: The current solution is the best way: open up the roads, and then let them come in and help. (+0)

13. How do you see the proposed “nationalization” of the military?
(editor’s note: The People’s Liberation Army is currently under the direct control and leadership of the Communist Party; some have discussed making it a non-political force that serves a “civilian” government directly. Similar to Taiwan’s situation up until a few years ago.)
C: It’s a good idea in theory, but the conditions for this aren’t quite ripe. (+0)

14. How do you see the Cultural Revolution?
C: We’ll have to let history decide; we don’t know enough right now. (+0)

II. Point adjustments (please multiply the appropriate value to the sum total from the first section)

1. What kind of labels have been attached to you (during online discussions)?
C: I’m very low-key, no one has ever labeled me. (Multiply your score by 1)

2. How do you see those who disagree with you?
C: We have different perspectives, but I can discuss issues with some in their group. (Multiply your score by 1)

OK, I wonder, since Mao Zedong massacred more people than Hitler and Stalin have done. Hitler pulled Germany out of poverty and turned it into a powerful nation. Stalin… um… well, helped Allies defeating Germany and whatever.

So, “accomplishments out-weigh mistakes.” I wonder, how will you evaluate Hitler and Stalin?

I do recall that Dr. Lee, our professor, gave us a lengthy lecture about Mao Zedong and regarding him as one of most controversial and influential people of the 20th century and transformed China into a force to be reckoned with. Yes, he has done many great awful deeds and killed more people than we can count, but there is no question that he has done more to China than others. Such accomplishment doesn’t always necessarily mean a good thing, but rather it came at great costs. I’m not praising him, I just can’t deny that he did a lot for the China, regardless.